Annual Conference 2019

SDRC Conference 2019

The fourth annual Scottish Dementia Research Consortium (SDRC) conference will be held at the Radisson Blu, in Glasgow on Monday 15th April 2019.

We welcome all members of the SDRC and everyone with an interest in dementia research in Scotland.

The SDRC Conference will showcase the world-leading dementia research taking place across Scotland. This year, we will focus on fundamental science and will show the exciting, and often unusual, research that takes place in laboratories which helps to improve our understanding of dementia and potentially discover new treatments.

We will also provide opportunities for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and others at the early stage of their research career from all disciplines to contribute to discussions and share their ideas.

The conference will leave you feeling amazed at what fundamental science does for dementia research, as well as inspired by the cross-disciplinary and collective drive of all dementia researchers around the country.

Tickets to the SDRC Conference 2019 are now available

Monday 15th April 2019

Radisson Blu, Glasgow

PROGRAMME

Registration, Tea, Coffee and the opportunity to view the poster boards and exhibits on display

10:00 – 10:15

Welcome

The SDRC what have we been up to?

The conference today

Prof Craig Ritchie

Chair of the SDRC, University of Edinburgh

Frank Gunn-Moore

Fundamental Sciences,

University of St Andrews

10:15 – 10:35

Can we stop Alzheimer’s Disease?

New ways of preventing the progression of neurodegenerative disease

Prof Andrew Tobin

Professor of Molecular Pharmacology

Institute of Molecular Cell & Systems Biology

University of Glasgow

10:35 – 10:55

Seeing how the brain works in real-time

What’s new in Alzheimer Research?

Prof Bettina Platt

Chair in Translational Neurosciences

University of Aberdeen

10:55 – 11:10

New horizons / Early days

3 PhD Speakers to be confirmed

11:10 – 11:50

Refreshment Break

Please take this opportunity to visit our poster boards and exhibits on display

11:50 – 12:05

New horizons / Early days

3 PhD Speakers to be confirmed

12:05 – 12:25

How to wash my brain

Demonstrate the newly developed methods to study small protein aggregates which are thought to be responsible for neurodegeneration.

Dr Juan Varela

ERC Research Fellow, University of St. Andrews

12:25 – 13:45

Lunch and networking

Please take this opportunity to visit our poster boards and exhibits on display

“Cohort Corner”

13.45 – 13:50

Welcome back

Prof. Jean Manson OBE

Fundamental Sciences, University of Edinburgh

13:50 – 14:10

It’s not just humans

What cats and other animals may be able to teach us about dementia in people.

Prof Danielle Gunn-Moore

Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute University of Edinburgh

14:10 – 14:30

Astrocytes as upstream regulators and downstream effectors of neurodegenerative pathology

Prof Giles Hardingham

Director of the DRI, University of Edinburgh

14:30 – 14.45

New money: Launch of the SG-RSMacDonald Charitable Trust

Prof Frank Gunn-Moore

14:45 – 15:25

Trauma and the Brain

Prof Lindsay Wilson

University of Stirling

Hannah Morgan

University of Glasgow

15:25 – 15:55

Debate/Discussion: Chaired by Prof Craig Ritchie

15:55 – 16:00

That’s a wrap

Prof Frank Gunn-Moore

Conference Speakers

Professor Frank Gunn-Moore

I have two relevant areas of expertise: 1) My research is focussed on understanding and developing treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease. My approach has involved using all three science disciplines (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), as such I have a wide experience of how the basic sciences can contribute to the Science and Technology of Dementia; 2) I have worked within other “pooling” initiatives in Scotland e.g. as Head of the Alzheimer’s Research UK network for East-Central Scotland, Head of the Biophotonics theme of the Stanford Scottish Universities Partnership, and also I sit on the executive for the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance.

Professor Jean Manson

I am Head of the Neurobiology Division of The Roslin Institute and hold a personal chair in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Edinburgh. I have been a research scientist in the protein misfolding diseases such as prion and Alzheimer’s diseases for over 27 years. I have been during that time committed to bringing together a wide range of people working in this field from health care workers to scientists. I have also delivered a number of public lectures and engaged with general audiences in raising awareness of the scientific research activities in this field. I serve on government and scientific advisory committees worldwide. I am committed to facilitating advances in the dementia field through research and effectively engaging with the wider community.

Professor Lindsay Wilson

I am a Professor of Psychology at the University of Stirling, with a long-standing research interest in both traumatic brain injury and dementia. I am currently involved with CENTER-TBI, which is a large scale study of brain injury and its consequences that is being conducted across centres in Europe.

Dr Juan Varela

Juan Varela studied physics in Uruguay and did his PhD in Ireland at the Centre for Bio-Nano Interactions, University College Dublin. He subsequently did a postdoc at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neurosciences in Bordeaux (France), and a second postdoc in neurodegeneration at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (UK). Juan has recently established his research group at the University of St Andrews funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant. His main research interests are the use of nanotechnology and high resolution microscopy to understand and cure neurodegenerative diseases.

Hannah Morgan

I began my PhD in October 2017, working with Dr Willie Stewart and the Glasgow Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Archive based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Current projects are directed towards understanding the relationship between TBI and the increased risk of dementia, investigating the influences of both proteinopathies and cellular changes within the brain after head injury

Professor Danielle Gunn-Moore

Danièlle Gunn-Moore graduated from the R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh, with the Dick Vet Gold Medal in 1991. After a year in small animal practice she joined The Feline Centre, University of Bristol, initially as the Feline Advisory Bureau Scholar, then the Duphar Feline Fellow, and completed a PhD study into Feline Infectious Peritonitis in 1997. After a short period as Lecturer in Veterinary Pathology, University of Bristol, she returned to Edinburgh to establish the Feline Clinic and became Professor of Feline Medicine in 2006. She is interested in all aspects of feline medicine; she is an internationally recognised expert in her area, has lectured extensively and published over a 130 peer-reviewed research papers, plus many reviews and book chapters. In 2009 she was awarded the BSAVA Woodrow Award for outstanding contribution in the field of small animal veterinary medicine, in 2011 she was awarded the International Society for Feline Medicine/Hill’s award for Outstanding Contributions to Feline Medicine, in 2012 the Royal Dick students voted her “The clinician I would most like to be”, in 2016 FECAVA awarded her “Increased Vocalisation in Elderly Cats” the most original paper in the European Journal of Companion Animal Practice that year, and in 2017 she became a Fellow of the RCVS.

Professor Bettina Platt

Bettina Platt graduated with distinction from the University of Mainz, Germany and received her PhD from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany. After completing a prestigious personal European Fellowship at the University of Leeds, Prof Platt joined the University of Aberdeen in 1997, initially within the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Since 2009, Prof Platt holds the Chair in Translational Neuroscience within the School of Medical Sciences. She heads a multi-disciplinary research team that investigates aspects of brain function and malfunction from the single molecule to the systems level. Prof Platt has acted as Research Director for a number of large research initiatives, some of which were co-funded by the pharmaceutical industry and the Scottish government. Her national and international collaborations have brought together novel research strategies, technologies and disciplines such as imaging, drug discovery, electronics, and computer science. Prof Platt is a Fellow of the Society of Biology and a founding member of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium (SDRC). Additionally, Prof Platt was a member of the SDRC executive board until 2016 and previously sat on the Alzheimer’s Society funding board. She currently is a member of the Scottish Alzheimer Research UK (ARUK) network board, and the ARUK Scientific Advisory Board.

Tickets for the Conference are now available, click below to sign up for free